Extinction of anciently associated gut bacterial symbionts in a clade of stingless bees.

摘要: Animal-microbe symbioses are often stable for millions of years. An example is the clade consisting social corbiculate bees-honeybees, bumblebees, and stingless bees-in which a shared ancestor acquired specialized gut bacteria that subsequently diversified with hosts. This model may be incomplete, however, as few microbiomes have been characterized bees, diverse ecologically dominant pollinators in tropics. We surveyed Brazilian focusing on genus Melipona, we sampled multiple species biomes. Strikingly, Melipona lacks Snodgrassella Gilliamella, bacterial symbionts ubiquitous other bees. Instead, harbor more environmental bee-specific Starmerella yeasts. Loss Gilliamella stem from ecological shifts or acquisition new functional replacements. Our findings demonstrate value broadly sampling microbiome biodiversity show even ancient can lost.